I feel they have to go by the Net income. as @Natalie Kolodij pointed out, your income can change from year to year being self employed, there is no steady income in this business.

I will take each months rent and put it into the companies checking account and keep it there, pay bills with it, but let it grow rapidly and get it to the point where i feel this is enough to cover the worst emergency ( usually a roof ). so my SFH up to 3FH i figure to leave 10K in there, then when you reach that steady balance you start to draw the money out.

That way you get a nice cash infusion but don't lose a moneymaking asset.Generally speaking, though, it seems to make more sense in this situation to keep the house & rent it out to keep a steady stream of cash coming in.

If North Dakota did not have the oil I suspect the residential units would have continued to decline as the demand decreased (supply was steady with the already built homes).

With no debt, my first well paying steady job out of college, and a recent marriage I believe that I'm in a great position to get started.My plan is to have bought my first house hack within the next year.

But you can plug in a lamp or whatever you like and control it from ST.Thermostat – Ecobee3.Good looking thermostat, comes with a wireless second temperature/occupancy sensor you can place in another room.

I don't really need to save money for "repairs" because those are pretty steady on a monthly basis as I think I have enough units where something is always going wrong.  

I'm assuming there's 160 work hours per month  ( 4 weeks X 40 hours ).If they're making 30 per hour gross income, 30 X 160 hours = 4800 monthly income.If my calculations are correct, Is it okay to tell prospective tenants a $30 per hour steady job is required?

Low or break even initial cash flow, steady over time.High demand and limited supply (SF, coastal SoCal, Honolulu, etc.) = prices and rents exceed inflation over the long term.

I have many installed, but have refrained from putting a temperature.